Just interviewed Broncos’ football boss John Elway for Sunday piece I’m doing on the one-year anniversary of when the team fired Josh McDaniels and began anew. The biggest step in the turnaround was, first, firing McDaniels, and two, replacing him with John Fox. But there’s no doubt the new Broncos are also about the change at quarterback from Kyle Orton to Tim Tebow.

“He’s something else,” Elway said of Tebow. “You can’t give him enough credit for what he’s done. The turnaround and the energy and the hope and the competitiveness that he’s brought back to the team. I think it’s more than — it is about the big plays that he makes, but it’s also his ability to raise all ships. That’s the type of person he is. The comebacks. The idea and belief by the players that we’re not out of this thing until that clock hits zero.”

In a nutshell (for dummies), the HSAC crew examined the Broncos under Kyle Orton through the team’s first five games, using a formula to predict the Broncos would win about 36 percent of their games this year (based on the first five games).

They then compared the next five games under Tim Tebow to the season start. Denver’s offensive numbers trended down over that span, with the defense improving only slightly (statistically). And yet, the Broncos went 4-1 over those five games.

So how do you explain the difference between downward stats and a significantly-improved record?

Maybe for the next home game, the Broncos should run out through a big sheet of paper that was decorated at the pep rally with “Go Broncos” and “XXOO” written all over by the cheerleaders.

The Broncos are tearing up the NFL using high school tactics. A week ago, defeating the Jets, Denver was running the option while Jersey/B was quick-snapping for hitch screens. It was high school versus college from a tactics standpoint: High school won on a crazed quarterback scramble by Tebow for a 20-yard touchdown. Denver had 229 total yards of offense and 11 first downs — a prep-game stat. Yet the Broncos prevailed.

I’m not sure what to make of all this. Is it a slam, an observation or praise? Anyway, there are some interesting stats and notes on Tebow included in Easterbrook’s piece.

Finally, a unique nickname for Tebow has surfaced. Four-year Denver resident and converted Broncos fan Cory Smizer spotted a T-shirt for that reads “The Big Tebowski.” Those of you familiar with the Joel and Ethan Coen flick starring Jeff Bridges will find that amusing. And contrary, too. Tebow is the polar opposite of “The Dude.”

“I saw the T-shirt at a game last year … I wish I had bought one back then,” Smizer said.

Coming from Oklahoma, and being a huge Sooners fan, Smizer was not a Tebow fan. He is now.

“It’s clear to me that nobody on the field wants to win more than Tebow,” Smizer said.

Tim Tebow and a couple Broncos teammates grabbed a taxi for a quick side trip away from the Broncos’ team hotel Sunday morning.

The small group of players were invited guests to the Sunday morning church service at The Rock Church in San Diego. The Rock’s pastor, Miles McPherson, is a former NFL defensive back (four years with the Chargers in the early 1980s) and he spoke to Broncos players on Saturday night.

The Broncos players were unable to stay for the entire Sunday morning service, but McPherson did acknowledge their attendance — Tebow in particular — to the congregation, who responded with a loud ovation.

“It was like you were at a football game,” said receiver Quan Cosby, who joined Tebow on the excursion.

Broncos players do not regularly leave to attend church services on game days, but an exception was made to specifically for McPherson’s sermon.

The Broncos have not made a roster move to fill the roster spot left vacant when the team released quarterback Kyle Orton on Tuesday.

That leaves the team with 52 players on the active roster for today’s game against the Chargers. The team will release its list of 7 inactive players 90 minutes before kickoff.

The Broncos will go with just two active quarterbacks — starter Tim Tebow and backup Brady Quinn. Adam Weber, who remains on the practice squad, is also in San Diego but will not be in uniform. Weber has accompanied the team on most, if not all, of the team’s prior road trips.

To be able to go into game day with only 52 players, the Broncos had to make a move on the practice squad. The Broncos released running back Xavier Odom, but will likely re-sign him early next week.

John Elway, executive vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos, makes his way onto Arrowhead Stadium's field on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011.

I just listened to Broncos’ boss John Elway on the radio. He was on the Broncos’ flagship, KOA 850-AM, with Dave Logan and Dave Krieger.

Logan asked Elway about his comments earlier this week on 102.3 FM The Ticket. Asked if he knew anything more about his future quarterback than he did five weeks ago (when Tebow became the Broncos’ starting), Elway said, “Um, no.” He then delivered a mostly positive assessment of Tebow while adding his young quarterback needed to improve his third-down passing. Tebow is 6 of 43 on third-down passes, a dreadful 13.95 completion percentage, but has still gone 4-1 as a starter.

“Everybody seems to want the answer right now,” Elway told Logan, adding that none of the Broncos’ players are fully evaluated until their full body of work is finished at season’s end.

“I am very hopeful that Tim Tebow is our guy,” Elway said. “Am I absolutely positive at this point in time? No I’m not. I want to believe that and that’s what I want to happen.

Tim Tebow has heard the rumors just like the rest of us that his college coach, Urban Meyer, might become the new head coach at Ohio State, a year after he left the University of Florida.

Does Tebow have any inside information?

“I’m not sure. Whatever he decides to do I’ll be 100 percent behind him. It’ll be exciting to see what happens,” Tebow said Wednesday afternoon.

Tebow and Meyer remain close and speak frequently.

“I know he just, more than anything, he wants to do right by his family, and have their support in anything he does,” Tebow said. “Mostly when we’ve talked, it’s been about that. When he comes back he’s going to be a great coach, and I’m excited to see what happens.”

Tebow was a freshman spot-duty quarterback when the University of Florida beat Ohio State to win the national championship in January 2007.

Everyone already knew this, but Tim Tebow is now officially a national phenomenon.

The Broncos’ quarterback is on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated. The SI cover photographer must have had to really work for it because the shot is of Tebow turning to hand-off and taking the snap from under center J.D. Walton.

Shares are now being sold for a filly, daughter of 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus. The horse’s name? Tebowing.

“We had very good information about this filly when we bought her,” said Little Red Feather racing executive bloodstock agent Tom McCrocklin.

“And now that I have her, she’s impressed me even more with her attitude and willingness to learn. I hope she is as good as her namesake seems to be.”

Photos of her namesake, Broncos QB Tim Tebow, are paired along with a mugshot of the horse, a fine looking filly who is part of the same bloodline with stakes race winners Roman Ruler and Champ Pegasus.

Neither of these nominations should come as any surprise to football fans who watched the Broncos’ 17-13 win against the Jets last Thursday:

Broncos linebacker Von Miller is up for the NFL/Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Week award for the third time this season — he is still looking for his first win. Miller had 10 tackles, 1.5 sacks, four quarterback hits, a forced fumble and three tackles for a loss against the Jets. It was a breakout game for the No. 2 overall pick in the draft — in an already impressive season.

The Broncos offense, led by quarterback Tim Tebow, are up for the GMC Never Say Never Moment of the Week for the 95-yard game-winning touchdown drive against the Jets. The Broncos also won the award last week for Tebow’s 56-yard touchdown pass to Eric Decker against the Chiefs, and in Week 7 for the team’s fourth-quarter comeback against the Dolphins.

ESPN was so excited about landing a phone interview between First Take panelist Skip Bayless and Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow that the network created its own hashtag for the event: #WhenSkipMetTebow.

(My question: What will the network do should they arrange for Bayless and Tebow to actually meet in person?)

The back story: Bayless has been an ardent Tebow supporter for quite some time, and frequently sticks up for Tebow when other analysts do not. Bayless began the segment by saying he “never wanted to meet Tim Tebow” because he didn’t want viewers to think he just wants to be Tebow’s “buddy,” but that he just believes in his heart that Tebow is a winner.

No wonder Tebow agreed to this much-hyped phone interview with Bayless.

John Elway, executive vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos, makes his way on the field before Sunday's game.

Bottom line, John Elway said this morning: the Broncos won. No matter that Tim Tebow threw eight passes, he said.

Speaking during his weekly radio segment on 102.3 The Ticket with Vic and Gary, Elway said repeatedly that the Broncos only threw eight passes in yesterday’s 17-10 win over Kansas City because it was what “the game dictated.”

“You can always go back and question, ‘We could’ve done this,’ or, ‘We could’ve done that,’ but we won the game,” said Elway, the team’s executive vice president of football operations.

“As the season continues to go,” Elway added later, “the game is going to dictate whether we throw the ball or we run the ball. Yesterday, we were dictating what we wanted to do.”

Besides, Elway said, “We’ve proved that you can win a football game by running it 55 times and throwing eight times.”

The picture started a public Twitter conversation between the two star athletes, which included Tebow inviting Howard to come give football a shot (along with LeBron) should the NBA lockout last much longer.

“BTW @DwightHoward if the lockout continues, you & @KingJames need to come get fitted for your Broncos uni’s!,” Tebow wrote.

We’ve all heard the hypothetical scenarios of LeBron playing in the NFL. He’d be a pretty ridiculous tight end, no? But what about Howard? Defensive end? Tight end?

Mike Klis has been with The Denver Post since 1998, after working 13 years with the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph. Major League Baseball was Klis' initial passion. He started covering the Colorado Rockies after Coors Field was approved for construction in August 1990.

Nicki Jhabvala is the Sports Digital News Editor for The Denver Post. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor, and she was most recently the overnight home page editor at the New York Times. She has reported regularly on the Broncos since joining the staff.

A published author and award-winning journalist, Benjamin Hochman is a sports columnist for The Denver Post. He previously worked on the staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winners of two Pulitzer Prizes for their Hurricane Katrina coverage.